


In the Still of the Night

by strawberrylovely



Category: Shance - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Shifter AU, Shifter Lance, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Witchcraft, Wolf!Lance, slight angst, slight slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-14 16:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13011444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylovely/pseuds/strawberrylovely
Summary: Shiro needs to get away from city life, so he drives to his family’s old cabin. On his way there, he accidentally hits an animal with his truck. He comes to find out that this canine’s bark is worse than his bite. Because the guy just does not stop talking. Ever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a halloween fic but i got too busy with school, which is why the fic starts on halloweekend. but since christmas is coming, there will be a christmas chapter too, don’t worry lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO, i recommend you listen to the song “in the still of the night” while reading just to get the full effect of this chapter

There were no street lamps on the old road. Nothing but the beams from Shiro's old pickup and the moon lit his way as he drove out to his family's cabin. The city life had become too much for him now that his parents were gone, and going out to their cabin was the only thing that gave him solace when he was feeling alone.

He liked being alone. Alone brought him comfort. Alone took away the sad glances and smothering pity that everyone that he came into contact with - whether they knew his situation or not - gave him. Alone let him be himself without having to put on a facade of being okay.

It was Halloween weekend, and usually his friends would make him go out and party with them, but this year he'd declined any and all invitations. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea for him to seclude himself, but the only thing he could think about was his family, and the last thing he needed was a party full of drunk people dressed in weird costumes.

He was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he almost didn't see the figure in front of his truck.

Slamming on his breaks, the wheels skidded to a stop, but he was too late. The truck hit the poor animal, throwing it at least ten feet away from the point of impact.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no."

Shiro put his truck in park and opened his door, carefully walking over to where the injured animal laid.

Up close, he saw that it was some kind of canine; wolf or dog, he couldn’t tell in the dim glow of his headlights. It was still breathing, which meant Shiro hadn't killed it. A sigh of relief left his mouth. Good. He couldn't handle another death right now.

Slowly, he crouched down to check on the animal and made sure it was safe to pick it up. When it didn't move to hurt him as he touched it, he picked it up slowly and put it in the back of his truck, putting his coat under it's head for comfort.

The nearest vet clinic was an hour away at least, not to mention that it was midnight and Shiro doubted the place even stayed open that late. Quickly, he decided his best option was to just finish the drive to his cabin and try to help the animal there. There was plenty of first aid equipment at the cabin, Shiro just hoped he got there fast enough.

 

As he pulled into the driveway, he ran to the front door of the cabin and opened it so he could just walk right in with the injured beast. He got to the back of his truck and saw that the animal was still breathing, meaning he still had time to help it. It was heavy, but thankfully Shiro was strong, and he hurriedly brought the poor thing inside and laid it on the dining table.

The animal was bleeding slightly on it's side and it's hind leg was bent incorrectly. Shiro thanked the Lord above that he had taken that first aid course in college and hoped it worked the same on animals as it did humans as he wrapped the canine's wound and set it's leg back into place. The beast howled once the leg was set, but it merely glanced at the man before falling back into a deep sleep.

Shiro wrapped the leg as well, and then moved the animal onto the couch to let it sleep for the night. He wondered if he should tie it down somehow, in case it tore up the place in the middle of the night, but he figured the leg would be enough to keep it stationary.

In case the creature woke up before him, he placed a bowl of water at the end of the couch. He pet the thing's head, hoping it would be alright and feeling guilty that he was the cause of its pain. He turned the lights out and went to bed, locking the door behind him just in case.

 

The next morning came early, and sunlight streamed down onto Shiro's bed as he woke up. Creaking the door open in case the animal was somehow waiting to pounce on him, he walked to the kitchen and saw no signs that the animal had been up and around during the night. From the living room, came a faint snoring, signaling that the canine was still asleep.

 _I didn't know an animal like that could snore_ , he thought to himself.

He made himself some coffee and stretched, wanting to be fully awake in case anything happened. Once his coffee was ready, he walked into the living room to check on the animal and nearly dropped his mug at the sight.

Laying there instead of the canine, was a human man, looking to be about Shiro's own age, snoring soundly on his couch. And he was completely naked.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The man on the couch has got some explaining to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit slow going since we’re setting up the story, but i hope you enjoy it!
> 
> edit: if the fic messed up for you it’s because i accidentally deleted the chapter WHOOPS but it’s all fixed now, no worries

“What the fuck?!”

Shiro’s yell startled the sleeping man and he gasped in a breath as he awoke.

"Hey, what-! Can't you see I was sleeping here...?” The stranger's eyes went wide as he became more aware, looking around the cabin before finally making eye contact with Shiro. "AGH!" he screamed, and covered himself quickly when he realized he was naked. He seemed to regret it, because directly after, he grunted in pain from his harsh movements.

Shiro, on the other hand, was freaking the hell out. Setting his coffee down on a nearby shelf, he thought of how this man could have traded places with the beast. He'd made sure to lock the door before he fell asleep, and there was no sign of a break-in. Still, there was no way that- that _thing_ turned into this man.

"What are you doing in my cabin?!" he asked, completely bewildered.

"Dude, I don't even know," the man said, carefully sitting up. "Last thing I remember, I was trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night, and then I got hit by a car."

"You...you got hit by a car?"

"Yeah, and it fucking hurt. Wait, was that _your_ car? Why the hell did you hit me?"

"I- I didn't! I mean... But... You're human!"

"...Yes?"

"There was an animal laying there when I went to sleep and now there's you. Care to explain that?" Shiro asked, a hand on his hip.

"Ohhh... Yeah, I'm a shapeshifter."

"Ha. Yeah, right. There's no such thing."

"Oh, dude. You wound me...literally," the man said, putting a hand over his heart, then back to cover himself once he remembered his situation. "Uh, any chance I could get some clothes? I kinda... don't have any with me."

"Not until you explain why you're here," Shiro said, crossing his arms.

"Can't tell if I want to make this explanation long or short, then," the man smirked.

_Was he flirting? At a time like this?_

"Short version, if you please," Shiro said matter-of-factly.

"So basically, I'm a shapeshifter and I can shapeshift into a wolf. I've been kind of... homeless for a few months, and I've been searching for a place to live. It's easier to travel and sleep outside as a wolf, especially now that it's getting colder. I was looking for a place to sleep for the night, and that's why I was a wolf when you hit me, but human when you woke me up. I mean, I don't usually change when I sleep, but I guess I just felt so comfortable sleeping on actual furniture that I slipped into human form,” the stranger explained.

"...I still don't believe you."

"Ugh, really? The bandages around my body and leg don't give it away?"

He wasn't wrong. The bandages on the man were in the exact same places Shiro had wrapped around the wolf the night before. Suspicion must have been apparent in his face as he looked over the stranger's body, because a moment later the man sighed and moved himself into a better position. With a deep breath, he shifted into a wolf in mere seconds. Shiro jumped backwards, holding onto the wall in surprise and fear.

"Dude," the man said once he'd switched back. "Chill. I wasn’t gonna eat you or anything."

“Wha- You- Ah- Huh?!”

“Believe me now?”

“Am I dreaming?”

“No.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so. Okay. So. You can shapeshift,” Shiro finally concluded. “I, uh... Wh-“ He shook his head, trying to wrap his brain around the fact that this random naked guy on his couch was able to turn into a wolf. “Okay,” he finally concluded. “So, you're the animal that I hit with my truck. I am so sorry about that, by the way."

"Hey, it's no problem. At least I got a good night's rest on a soft couch and a cute boy taking care of my injuries."

"Uh-" Shiro felt his face heat up, not expecting to hear a wolf-man (werewolf?) call him cute. He changed the subject quickly. “You really don't have a place to stay?"

"Nope."

"Well, you can stay here if you want. Until your leg gets better, anyway,” Shiro said without really thinking.

"Seriously? You don’t even know me."

The man was right. Shiro didn’t know him at all. The only thing he knew about this man was that he could turn into a wolf. But Shiro felt sorry for him and there was no way he was going to add guilt over not helping this guy to his list of things to lay awake thinking about at night.

"It's the least I can do considering I'm the one that hit you. I would feel worse if I made you leave right now, so you can stay here until you’re healed. You really should watch where you're going on the road, by the way."

"Yeah, sorry. Hope I didn't dent your bumper or anything."

Shiro laughed softly, amused at the fact that this strange man seemed more worried about the truck than his own injuries.

"Oh, uh,” Shiro said, "I still don't know your name."

"Lance. You?"

"Shiro."

"Well, Shiro. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I'd shake your hand, but uh..."

"Oh! Right! Sorry, I'll go get you some clothes."

"Thank you!"

 

\--

 

"Here," Shiro said, coming back a few minutes later with a pair of pajama pants and a sweater. "I hope these will fit you. If you want, I can go into town and get you something in your size."

"You don't have to do that. I'm sure these will be fine."

Shiro put the clothes next to Lance and walked into the kitchen, letting him change in privacy.

"Uh, Shiro?" Lance called after a couple of seconds.

"Yeah?"

"I hate to ask this, especially since we just met and all, but I'm having trouble putting on these pants with my broken leg..."

"Oh. Right. No problem. I mean, it's not like I haven't already seen- Uh. Yeah."

Shiro took a deep breath in and out before walking back into the living room. Lance was sitting there, sweater on and thankfully covering his...secrets, and pants around his ankles. 

"I could only get it over the feet. I need to stand up but..."

"Right. Well, here, let me just..."

Shiro bent down and bunched the legs of the pants up so Lance's feet would go through. He then stood and pulled Lance up, helping him balance on one foot.

"Okay, just hold onto my shoulders and I'll pull them up, I guess."

"Can do."

Shiro bent down again and pulled Lance's pants up as quickly as he could. The pants, however got stuck on their way up and caused both of them to take pause.

"Fuck," Lance whispered.

“What-“

“Ah, heh...”

"Dude...are you seriously getting hard right now?"

"I'm _sorry_ , it was an accident!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

"That's what you get for making me stay naked for so long and for being really attractive while you're on your knees! Like, damn, give me a break!"

"Ugh, just- pull them up yourself. I'll hold onto your waist."

"Yeah, cuz _that_ 'll make my hard-on go away," Lance muttered under his breath.

"I heard that."

Shiro stood up and held onto Lance's waist to keep him balanced. He looked away, too embarrassed to look at Lance again as the brunet fixed himself and pulled his pants all the way up.

"There, I'm done,” Lance said once he was dressed.

"Cool. Now, watch your side."

"What-?"

Shiro let go of Lance and pushed on his chest gently, causing him to lose balance and fall back onto the couch.

"Ow," Lance whined.

"Deserved it!" Shiro called as he walked into the kitchen to hide his growing red face.

 

\--

 

"Are you hungry?" Shiro asked once the air was cleared of awkwardness.

"Yes, actually."

"I'll make you something. I got cans of vegetable soup and turkey sandwiches, your choice."

"Wow, _gourmet_ ," Lance teased. "I'll take a sandwich, if that's alright."

Shiro swiftly made them both a sandwich and then took a seat next to Lance on the couch, handing one over to him.

"Thanks."

Lance took one bite, then scarfed down the rest in a few seconds as if he hadn't eaten in days. Shiro wondered if he had.

"Do you want another?"

"Nah, I don't wanna waste your resources-"

"Dude," Shiro pushed.

"Yes, please."

"Here, take mine. I haven't bitten into it yet."

"But-"

"Eat it while I make myself another," he ordered, standing up. "If you want food, just ask. You're a guest - a guest I hit with my car, no less - and you can have whatever you want."

"Even you?"

"...Really?" Shiro deadpanned at Lance's awful line, giving him a look.

"Hey, thought I'd give it a shot."

"Try me again when I haven't just found out my house guest can turn into a wolf."

 

\--

 

“So. Is it painful?" Shiro asked later, giving Lance some pain medication and water.

"To shift? Nah,” Lance said, downing the meds.

"Can you...talk when you’re a wolf?"

"What? No! Can wolves talk? No, they can’t."

"You can shapeshift! What, you think the line is drawn at talking animals at this point?"

"Touché.” Lance leaned back onto the couch and put his arms around his head. “What about you?”

“What _about_ me?” Shiro asked in return as he sat on a chair a few feet away from the couch.

“I dunno. What’s something I should know about you right off the bat so I know you’re not some weird axe murderer that actually brought me here to chop me up?”

“Well that’s... oddly specific, but uh,” Shiro looked up at the ceiling as he thought about himself. “I work at a construction company.”

“Like, you build stuff?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s easy money and I’m good at manual labor.”

“I bet you are,” Lance smirked.

“Ah, yes. That reminds me,” Shiro said. “Not that I’m not flattered or anything, but another thing you should know is that I have a girlfriend.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“That explains why you’ve been resisting my flirtatious charms.”

“Uh... Anyway. It’s just a little awkward, so I wanted to let you know.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tone down the flirting. Damn, I can’t believe you’re straight,” Lance said, almost dejectedly. “Sorry, I guess I read you wrong.”

“Yup, that’s- Wait, what?”

“You’re straight.”

“Wha- You- Ah... Wh-Who said I was- I mean...” Shiro stuttered.

“So you’re _not_ straight?” the brunet asked with a mischievous smile.

“I didn’t say- I... Um-“

“I see. So you just don’t know yet. Well, if you ever need help figuring it out, you know where to find me. Until my leg is healed, anyway.”

“Uh.” Shiro’s face felt hot. “Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem.” Lance stretched as best as he could, hissing at the soreness of his muscles. “I don’t know why I’m so sleepy,” he yawned.

“Because you got hit by a car?”

“Your car.”

“Right. Why don’t you take a nap?”

“What are you gonna do?” Lance asked, slowly moving to lay down.

“I’ll probably read. I’ve got a few books here.”

“Hah. Nerd.”

“What, you don’t read?” Shiro huffed.

“I’ve been around long enough to have read all I need to.”

“How-“

“Anyway,” Lance said, cutting off Shiro’s inevitable question. “It’s nap time. See you on the other side.”

 

\--

 

The rest of the afternoon was quiet. Shiro read his book as Lance slept off the medication he'd been given. When the younger man finally woke up, it was around dinner time, so Shiro made them both some soup and they ate in near silence.

"I need to leave in the morning because I have work tomorrow," Shiro said as he took their empty bowls to the kitchen. "I'll come back and check on you in the evening. Do you think you'll be able to be alone that long?"

"Wait. You're just gonna let me stay here by myself?"

"Yeah, I told you that. You can stay till your leg gets better. That includes when I'm not here too."

"You trust me with that? What if I steal all your stuff and run away?"

"Are you going to?"

"No."

"Then I'll trust you."

Lance was silent as he took in Shiro's statement, as if he was surprised that someone would trust him, a stranger, to be alone at their place. Shiro saw Lance’s internal shock and spoke again so he wouldn't have to.

"Will you be alright on your own?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Thank you. I'll be fine."

"Good."

"If I need to pee, I'll turn into wolf form and go do it on a tree," Lance joked, though Shiro was pretty sure he wasn't actually joking.

"I'll leave some food out near you so you won't have to move so much. I'm sorry that I have to go, but I just got a new assignment and I don't wanna give them any reason to regret hiring me."

"It's okay, I understand. I promise I won't throw a party and wreck the house or steal all your stuff."

"Thank you for understanding. Are you sure you're okay sleeping on the couch? I can move you into the spare bedroom if that would be more comfortable."

"No, no, it'll be easier for me to be here while you're gone."

"Okay, then. I'm going to head to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Shiro."

 

\--

 

The next morning, Shiro set out a cooler that his family used when they went camping next to the couch. He'd (quietly) filled it with stuff to make sandwiches and drinks so that Lance wouldn't have to get up to get food. On the coffee table, he left some pain pills, bandages, and a few books to fight boredom (even though Lance had probably already read them). Once everything was set, he smiled at his sleeping guest, and left for work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Lance get to know each other better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy so just a bit of warning, there’s some alcohol mentioned in this chapter if that bothers anyone. no one gets drunk or anything, but they do drink it so i just wanted to give a little warning. also lance drinks alcohol after having taken pain pills which you SHOULD NOT DO THAT IS BAD so do not copy him, please and thank you. <3

Shiro came back in the evening and found Lance sitting upright on the couch, book resting open on his chest, completely passed out and snoring softly. He set down the bags he brought in the kitchen and then moved to the couch, picking up the book and putting it on the table, careful to keep Lance's place. The small movements caused the wolf-boy to stir and eventually wake up.

"Shiro?" he asked, blearily bringing himself back into awareness.

"Hey, Lance. I'm back. _Great Gastby_ , huh?” he said, motioning towards the book. “I figured you’d already read it.”

“Oh, I have. Nothing like rereading a classic by an old friend.”

“What?”

“I’m joking. I never actually knew F. Scott Fitzgerald personally. I did meet him once though.”

“What?”

“Yeah! Hey uh, what time is it?” Lance said, avoiding Shiro’s questions again.

“...It’s about 7:30, why?”

“Damn, how long is your shift?”

“I got off at 5:30, but I stopped by the store on the way here and I bought some things."

"What did you buy?" Lance yawned, still a bit tired.

"Well, firstly..." Shiro said, briefly stepping back into the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry, because I got us a couple of pizzas."

"Dude! Hell yeah, come through!"

Shiro passed the boxes to Lance, who set them both down on the table and opened them.

"I wasn't sure what you liked so I went simple: cheese and pepperoni."

"It's perfect! My two favorites. Thanks, man!"

"Of course," Shiro chuckled softly.

"What else did you get?"

"Groceries. Some snacks for you to keep near you while I'm gone, and a stockade of other ingredients to make something for dinner tomorrow."

"You cook?"

"I can sometimes. As long as it's spaghetti or...spaghetti."

Lance laughed and Shiro felt his own smile grow at the sound.

"Oh, also,” he said, walking into the kitchen and bringing back two bottles. “Rum and coke.”

"Ugh, you're the best,” Lance groaned and made grabby hands until Shiro placed them on the table next to him.

"If you think that now, you'll really love me after you see the last thing."

"Ooh, what is it?" the man clapped his hands excitedly.

"Close your eyes," Shiro said as more of a question.

Lance did as he was told (not without an eyebrow wiggle) and Shiro walked to the front door and back, carrying his secret gift for the other man.

"Alright, open."

Lance opened his eyes and his excited expression turned to something softer as he saw Shiro holding a pair of crutches.

"Dude, you got these for me?"

"Nah, they're for me to mess around in,” Shiro teased. “Yes! They're for you!"

"Shiro... You didn't have to do that."

"Hey, I'm the one that hit you with my car. the least I can do is help you be able to walk around."

"Thank you so much,” Lance smiled genuinely, and Shiro felt as if he got a glimpse of the real Lance under all that bravado he always put up.

"You're welcome."

“I mean it. For...everything.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Shiro smiled. “Seriously.”

He sat the crutches near where Lance was seated and joined him on the couch. They each grabbed a slice of pizza, and then another, and then another. Soon, both pizzas were gone, save for a few crusts here and there.

"Oh man, that hit the spot," Lance said, rubbing his stomach.

"You said it,” Shiro agreed. “Hey, when was the last time you changed your gauze?"

"My... gauze?"

"For the cut on your side. I left stuff to change your gauze on the table for you. You didn't do it?"

"...No?"

"Lance! You don't want your cut to get infected!"

"I know! I just didn't even think about it."

"Here, let me help you.” Shiro stood up and moved in front of Lance. “Take off your shirt."

Lance quickly complied as Shiro sat on the floor to get a better angle to change the bandage.

"Lift your arm."

There was no doubt the bandages on Lance’s side needed to be changed. Dried blood that had seeped through colored the old gauze red, and Shiro peeled it off gently as Lance hissed at the unpleasant feeling.

"Sorry,” Shiro said. “The next part will be worse."

Shiro doused a cloth with alcohol and pressed it against the wound, making Lance gasp sharply in pain.

"You're right,” he said, “It was worse."

"I know. Almost done."

Discarding the bloody gauze, Shiro cut a new piece, placing it back over the wound and taping it to stay. As he worked, his fingers brushed the softness of Lance's warm skin, a stark contrast to the first time he'd done this. There were a few small scars across Lance's naked upper body, only just visible from this distance and Shiro wondered if he'd gotten them as a human or as a wolf.

As he worked, Shiro’s hands slowed, his subconscious wanting to take in everything about the man he knew so little of before he had to move away. Chancing a look, he glanced up at Lance and was caught off guard when he saw deep blue eyes staring back down at him. Lance smirked and Shiro felt his face start to heat up. Hurriedly, he looked back down to the bandage and saw that he'd finished, which meant he was just touching Lance for no reason.

"S-Sorry," he said, moving his hands away. "It's done."

"Thanks, Shiro."

"No problem. I’m just glad your wound isn’t deep enough to need stitches. The bandages need to be changed every so often to avoid infection and help the healing process."

"You should do it every time, then. You're so much better at it. Plus, you're the one that hit me so..."

"Ah, yes. Please, keep reminding me of my guilt."

"Aw, come on,” Lance said, putting his shirt back on. “I'm just giving you a hard time."

Shiro refrained himself from making a joke about getting a "hard time" from Lance, despite knowing the brunet would appreciate it, and stood up.

"I hope you had a good day. You weren't too bored or anything?" he asked.

"A little, but it wasn't so bad with the books and things you left me. It’s better now that you're here, though."

"Well, it's always more fun to have company."

"Especially when the company is as nice as you," Lance winked.

"Uh..."

“Right, sorry. Less flirting.”

“Thanks. Sorry I don't have a tv or anything," Shiro said, sitting down in a chair nearby. "We could have watched a movie or something."

"That's okay,” said Lance. “We can just talk."

"Alright, what do you want to talk about?"

“Ah, ah, ah. Alcohol first.”

Lance leaned over, careful to mind his injury, and grabbed the bottle of rum from the coffee table.

“Wait,” Shiro stopped him. “When’s the last time you took pain medication? You don’t want-“

“I can turn into a wolf. Mixing alcohol and pain medication hasn’t killed me before, it won’t now.”

“Ugh, alright. If you do die, it won’t be my fault,” Shiro half-joked as he stood up again.

He got them both glasses with ice from the kitchen and poured two mixtures of the rum and coke. He handed Lance his before sitting back down on the chair facing the couch.

“So,” Shiro said.

“So,” Lance repeated. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Okay. Is there anything specific you’d like to know? Other than what I told you yesterday?”

"Hmm... Not really. More like, I just want to know _about_ you. Especially since I’m gonna he staying here for a while. We still barely know each other, so I wanna know who you are,” Lance said. When Shiro gave a questioning look, he continued on. “Like, okay, you said you have a girlfriend, but I haven’t seen her, so I'm guessing you live here alone?"

"I do live alone, but I actually live in the city.”

“Ah, that explains the lack of personality in here.” Lance gestured to the empty walls and shelves around the living room of the cabin.

“Yeah, it’s my family’s old camping cabin. I just came out here for Halloween weekend to get away from it all."

"What? Alone on Halloweekend?" Lance pouted.

"I know, you probably think I'm some anti-social freak."

"Are you not?"

"Haha, very funny," Shiro said sarcastically. "No, I'm not. Usually, I'd be partying with my friends, but... Ah, nevermind."

"What? Did your bride go back to Frankenstein? Actually, you know. With that white streak in your hair, _you_ look more like the bride."

Shiro shook his head and huffed a laugh before looking down at the floor.

"No, um. My parents...both died earlier this year."

"Oh, Shiro..."

"We were in a car accident. I lost my arm, and they both lost their lives."

"I'm so sorry. That's awful."

"Yeah, I'm still getting used this prosthetic arm and... not having parents,” Shiro said solemnly. “But, I'm doing better. The accident was in the winter and it's fall now. It's still hard sometimes, so I come out to our old cabin that my grandpa built to have some alone time."

"Your grandpa built this cabin?"

"He had some help, but yes."

"That's awesome. Um, I'm sorry about your parents, though,” Lance said. “No one should have to go through that.”

"Thanks, Lance." Shiro gave a sad smile.

"And I'm sorry I'm intruding on your alone time," the boy added quickly. "I can leave if you want."

"What? No, you need to let your leg heal. Besides, I think it's better that I have someone here with me so I'm not just wallowing in sadness. And I could do worse as far as company goes," Shiro teased.

"Hey, you're not too bad yourself," Lance smiled.

"I'm glad you think so," he smiled back. "Uh, speaking of your leg, I probably should have asked this sooner, but do I need to take you to the hospital to get it checked out?"

"You set it back into place and wrapped it with a splint, so it should heal right. I don't see a reason for you to waste your money on medical bills for me anyway."

" _My_ money?"

"Well, _I_ don't have any."

"Right,” Shiro laughed. “Is that how this works? I hit you with my car and then have to pay for everything you need like some... sugar daddy?"

"Do you _want_ to be my sugar daddy?" Lance said with that same flirtatious lilt.

"I- N-No! That's not what I meant, I just-!"

"Don't worry. I understand."

Lance winked and Shiro rolled his eyes in reply, feeling far too self conscious and flustered than he'd like to admit.

"Ahem," Shiro cleared his throat pointedly. He sat his glass down on the coffee table, trying to convince himself that the alcohol was the only reason for the heat in his cheeks. "So, now that you know my tragic backstory, tell me about yours. Why are you homeless?"

"Not-so-long story that involves money and my lack of it.”

“Well, alright. So, were you born this way? Or were you like, bit, or something?"

"'Or something' is right. I'm not really sure exactly how or when it happened, but I remember one day in high school I needed to run away from some boys that were bullying me and that's when I changed for the first time."

"You were bullied?"

"Yeah, I was apparently a 'sissy boy' so some guys in my class decided I should get beaten up almost every day after school. If they could catch me, that is. Anyway, this particular day was a bad day. I wasn't feeling well, the bullies were after me, and it was raining. I tried to run home but they were really fast. There was a wooded area by my house, so I ran in there hoping to escape them, and all of a sudden I felt myself being able to run faster. It was great. The bullies stopped chasing me and I got to come home uninjured. Except when I was about to walk up to my house, I walked past a puddle and in my reflection, I saw a wolf. I was so terrified that I think I scared myself into switching back. My mother about had a fit when I walked through the front door soaking wet with rain and mud and my clothes all ripped up. From then on I just kind of had this...ability and learned how to control it better.” Lance explained. “Actually, you’re the only other person that knows."

"Really?"

"Well, my sisters knew, but they're not around anymore."

"Why not?" Shiro asked.

"They died."

"Oh... I’m sorry, Lance."

"I mean, they were old, it was time. They passed very peacefully."

"Wait, old? As in, old age?"

"Yeah...?” Lance said, as if it was obvious.

“Dude, you gotta explain this whole ‘been around for a while’ thing,” Shiro said. “How long have you been alive?”

“A long time,” Lance replied.

“Right. So do you just not age, then?”

“I wouldn’t say that I _don’t_ age. I just don't age normally. It took near fifty years for me to even look like I wasn’t in high school anymore. I don't think I'm exactly immortal, given you almost killed me with your truck..."

"Sorry."

"But yeah, I’ve definitely got some sort of ability that slows my aging and quickens my healing. So basically, I’m pretty much I'm your regular, everyday Edward Cullen. Except I think outwardly, I'm finally about 23 or so, which is cool. I’d hate to be 17 forever,” Lance said.

"Wouldn't you be more of a Jacob since you're like, a werewolf?" Shiro asked.

"I'm not-!" the brunet stopped himself, looking a bit scandalized. "I'm not a _werewolf_ , I'm a shifter. Werewolves are dumb and totally not real. Shift according to the moon? No way. Shifting whenever I want is much more realistic,” he ranted. “But, I guess, in a way, I am more like Jacob."

"Who does that make me? Bella?" Shiro tried. 

“What, you're gonna come cry to me for a while and then go back to your vampire boyfriend and leave me to be with your weird half vampire child?"

"...That series was fucked up,” Shiro laughed.

"Yeah, it really was," Lance said, laughing along with Shiro.

The heat that had previously been in Shiro’s cheeks had melted into a nice warmth; Lance’s random company felt like a stroke of luck - something new and exciting that he needed in his life. Though he may have originally wanted to be alone, he was having fun with Lance and wouldn’t change their situation for anything.

"How old are you, actually?" Shiro asked after a moment.

"Don't you know you should never ask a woman her age?" Lance said, dramatically.

"Oh, my apologies, _ma’am_."

"I forgive you. Let's just say I'm a _lot_ older than you."

"Well, you said you’re only about 23 outwardly, which makes you younger than me by a few years."

"Ugh, semantics."

They fell into a comfortable silence, both smiling and amused by their banter. Shiro noticed that Lance was blushing, and for some reason it struck him as cute. He quickly diverted his gaze, fixating his eyes on a bird outside the window that he hoped would distract his thoughts.

"Hey, I'm sorry to ask,” Lance said, breaking the silence, “but do you think you could get me a glass of water? I'm parched and I don’t think the rum is helping."

"Oh, yeah, of course,” Shiro smiled.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Shiro stood up and got Lance a glass of water from the kitchen. As he handed it to him, their hands grazed each other and Shiro was suddenly very aware of how warm Lance was. In fact, the few times he’d touched Lance, the man felt very hot, as if he had a fever. But he didn’t look sick. Shiro wondered if being a shifter caused his body temperature to be higher than a normal human’s.

Lance looked up at him as he took a sip and Shiro realized he was staring. He cleared his throat as he sat back down in his chair, trying not to make obvious the pull he felt towards the other man.

Maybe it was just because this was the best company he'd had in a while. He had to admit that his friends and coworkers weren’t cutting it as far as pleasant social interaction goes. Even his girlfriend, Allura, felt more distant than ever. Though, that could be Shiro’s fault since he’d sort of been pushing away everyone he was close to after the accident.

But Lance. This weird, half-wolf, overly flirtatious, funny and charming man that Shiro had seen naked before he ever knew the guy’s name? He was...different. He didn’t look at Shiro with pity, or like he was fragile. He didn’t judge or care about Shiro’s past or the way he looked. And maybe he was just being nice because he was stuck on Shiro’s couch for a few weeks. Considering their situation, he had every right to be angry with Shiro, but he wasn’t.

“You’re strange, you know that?” Shiro said. He didn’t mean it as an insult, but more as a thank-you. He hoped Lance understood the hidden meaning, and as the man looked back at him, he knew he did.

“ _You’re_ strange,” Lance shot back, smirk apparent on his face. “But I guess that’s why you’re such great company.”

Yeah, running into Lance (literally) was exactly what Shiro needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m imagining lance was born in like the 1880s, so he’s super old. did he actually meet f. scott fitzgerald? who knows. but yeah, in case lance’s avoidance was bothering you, that’s how old he is lol.
> 
> (if you’re wondering why he doesn’t talk like he’s from the 1880s, he’s looked like a teenager for nearly 100 years, he had to keep up with the times and evolve his language so no one would suspect him (also i’m not smart enough to write lance speaking like he’s from the 1880s))
> 
> this whole slow burn thing is killing me i just want them to kiss already ;-;


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pie baking fun for the holidays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY! so sorry, it’s been a minute since i posted. i got all wrapped up with work and family time and i just didn’t have time to post, let alone write. but i finally have the next few chapters at least sort of written out, so expect those within the next few days.
> 
> now, i know, christmas was a couple days ago, but i wanted to post these christmas-y chapters before then, but as i just said, i got too busy and was unable. so! i hope you all are ready to get back into the christmas spirit! (and if you don’t celebrate, i’m sorry)
> 
> anyway! hope you like this chapter! it’s a bit fluffy, though not too fluffy since this is a slow burn ;)

~About 2 months later~

 

“Have you finished stirring those apples?” Lance asked.

“Uh...I think so?” Shiro responded, hoping he was doing his job right.

“Let me see.”

Lance crutched over from the middle isle of the kitchen where he’d been preparing the crust of the pie they were making.

“Looks good to me,” he smiled at Shiro. “You put in everything I told you, right?”

“Yeah, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, a little bit of lemon juice...”

“Perfect. Then bring the bowl over there for me and help me dump the filling into the pan.”

They both went back to the middle isle and Lance took a seat on one of the barstools. Shiro held the bowl over the pie pan with the uncooked crust and carefully tipped it so Lance could spoon out the apple filling.

“Thaaaank you!” Lance said once all the filling had emptied out. He took the bowl from Shiro and sat it aside, moving to the rest of the crust that he had cut into strips to make a lattice.

“What are these? Hearts?” Shiro asked at the small cut-outs Lance had made with the left over dough.

“Yeah! They’ll go on top of the parts of the crust that overlap.”

“Cool, cool,” Shiro nodded nonchalantly. “Uh, not to be weird,” he said after a moment, “but...why hearts?”

“Hmm? Oh... Ha, yeah I guess that’s a little...” Lance said sheepishly. “It’s just something that my mother and I used to do when I was young. Well, younger,” he explained. “She’d always let me cut out the hearts while she did the lattice. It’s not like I... I mean, I’m not- I wasn’t trying to profess my love for you or anything! It’s just an old habit that I didn’t even think about. I-I should have just done circles. I can fix them if you want-“

“Lance.” Shiro stopped the man’s rambling before either of them felt more embarrassed. “It’s okay. Sorry if I made it awkward. I think it’s cute that you and your mom did that together. Reminds me of when I did stuff with my mom,” he reminisced. “We never cooked though, neither of us were any good at that.”

“Yeah, you’re still not,” Lance teased.

“Hey, my spaghetti is great!”

“Your spaghetti is boiled noodles and a jar of Prego.”

“You still eat it.”

“It’s either that or another sandwich, and God knows I’ve eaten enough of those to last a lifetime. Which, considering I’m older than your grandparents and still in my early years, that’s saying something.”

“Older than my grandparents, huh? I think I’m finally starting to get an idea of how old you really are,” Shiro smirked.

“I don’t know why that interests you so much,” Lance said petulantly.

“You’re my friend and you hardly age because you can turn into a wolf. It’s only natural for me to wonder about you.”

“And just how often am I on your mind?” Lance winked.

“You’re lucky I even think about you at all,” Shiro deadpanned.

“Agh, that cuts deep, bro,” Lance said in that over-dramatic voice of his.

Shiro shook his head in amusement and watched as Lance placed the final heart on the pie.

“ _Voila!_ It is finished!” the brunet said with a sprinkling of sugar on top, and brandished the pan towards Shiro. “All ready for the oven.”

Shiro took the pie and placed it in the oven with a sheet of aluminum foil over it, setting a timer for 40 minutes just like Lance had told him.

“Now we wait,” he said, placing his arms on the kitchen isle and leaning over it to chill with Lance.

“This is going to be the _perfect_ Christmas pie. I can’t wait to eat it with you.”

“Right, about that...” Shiro said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stay for Christmas.”

“What?”

“Yeah, my friends are wanting to get together tomorrow, which probably means that Allura will want to spend Christmas day with me. I’m sorry, Lance. I know you were excited to celebrate Christmas together.”

“Oh. Well, hey, that’s okay,” Lance said, obviously trying to hide his disappointment. “I’ll have fun here, you go ahead and have a good time with your friends.”

“Will you be alright by yourself?”

“Of course. I’ve been alone on Christmas for years, what’s another one?” Lance joked sadly. “Besides, I’ll have a whole pie for consumption all to myself.”

“You won’t save me a piece?” Shiro pouted.

“Hmm... Maybe. Since you’ve been so good this year.”

“Aw, gee. Thank you, Santa.”

“Excuse me? If anything, I’m a hot elf,” Lance scoffed.

“Are you sure? To my knowledge, you’re old enough to be Saint Nick himself,” Shiro teased.

Lance shot him an incredulous look, completely scandalized by Shiro’s statement. He stuttered a few times, trying and failing to think up a good comeback, before settling on a more childish response. Grabbing a handful of flour from the counter, Lance threw it at Shiro, coating the man in white.

“Lance!” Shiro exclaimed. He jumped back from the counter and half of the flour on him dumped to the floor. Through powdery eyes, Shiro sent Lance a deadly look.

“You know, I’m beginning to regret my decision. I’ve only just remembered that I’m currently incapacitated and there is a very low chance of me winning this,” Lance said innocently, already trying to guard himself from Shiro’s retaliation. “Shiro, please. Have mercy, have- MERCY!” he shrieked as a cloud of white enveloped him.

Shiro’s laughter filled the room as Lance wiped at his face so he could see again. In a flash, Lance had already gotten two more handfuls and was waving his arms around, trying to lock onto his target — Shiro — who was moving left and right, trying to avoid getting hit again. Shiro chanced a hand to the counter to grab his own ammo, but he was just slow enough for Lance to throw more flour in his face.

“Haha!” Lance boasted, before receiving his own blow to the face from his guard being temporarily lowered.

The kitchen was in complete disarray, but neither man seemed to care as sounds of attack, successful hits, and laughter floated around the small kitchen.

Just as Shiro was running past the still seated Lance, the brunet turned too quickly and lost his balance.

“Oh, shit-!“

“Lance-!”

Shiro leaped over and caught Lance just as he fell, bringing them both crashing to the floor, one on top of the other.

“Agh... Lance! Are you okay?” Shiro said to the man that was laying across his lap.

“Mng, yeah. I’m alright. Thanks for breaking my fall.”

“I think I might have broken something else, too,” he said, rubbing at his tailbone.

Lance sat up off of Shiro, looking him over to make sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere else.

“Oh man...” he said.

“What?” Shiro asked worriedly.

“I just realized how good I got you,” the boy smirked.

“Have you seen yourself? I totally won.”

“Sure about that?”

Lance brought his clenched hand above Shiro’s head and opened it, depositing flour that covered the man’s hair as Lance patted it down and rubbed it in mischievously.

“Now the rest of your hair matches your little white patch,” Lance said with a shit-eating grin.

Shiro grabbed the wrist of the hand that was making the mess on his head worse and glared at it’s owner, who was now smiling innocently back at him. A moment passed and Shiro’s face cracked into its own smile, which then turned into a laugh, and soon they were both a giggling heap of white powder on the floor.

As their laughter subsided, Lance gazed at Shiro with a fond look. Shiro returned the look as a feeling of warm contentment washed through him.

This was nice. In the weeks Lance had been staying there, his presence had brought Shiro out of a hole of despair with his bright smile and gentle laughter. They had fun together without any obligations of entertainment. They could just sit and talk, make dinner, or bake a pie together and it was more healing than any “fun” activities Shiro’s friends tried to do to cheer him up since the accident. This was the happiest he’d felt all year.

Shiro’s reverie was cut short by the soft sound of Lance clearing his throat. He realized that he still had hold of Lance’s wrist and quickly let go with a small ‘sorry’ before helping his friend back up to his feet.

The kitchen, they finally noticed, was a complete chaos of white.

“It looks like Frosty the Snowman threw up all over the place,” Lance joked.

“Gross,” Shiro said with a scrunched nose.

“I’ll clean up the counter and you do the floor. Pass me a rag?”

“Gladly.”

They got to work cleaning the kitchen, and Shiro took both of their shirts to the washing machine, though, not without chancing a look at Lance’s upper body.

Seeing Lance naked was nothing new, especially considering that’s how they met. But he’d also helped his friend in and out of the bath dozens of times since. However he never really looked at him like he had that first day. Looking at him now, Shiro saw that Lance’s body had gotten a lot fuller. Lance was still lanky, but his stomach and limbs had filled in now that he was finally getting three meals a day. It was nice to see the progression, and it made him happy to know he’d helped Lance just like Lance had helped him.

After a long moment of staring, Lance turned and noticed Shiro near the hallway entrance. He snapped around and went into the laundry room, all while telling himself the only reason he’d even looked at Lance’s body in the first place was to see how much healthier he’d become.

 

When the kitchen was near spotless and the pie was done, Shiro gave Lance back his freshly cleaned shirt and they got ready for bed.

“You sure you’ll be okay by yourself the next couple days?” Shiro asked, leaning against his doorframe.

Lance had long since moved into the extra bedroom down the hall from Shiro so he could sleep on an actual bed. Besides, they both felt safer sleeping so close together in case Lance needed anything during the night.

“Like I said, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in a few days, right?”

“Right. Yes. Okay. Goodnight then,” Shiro confirmed.

“Goodnight, Shiro,” Lance said as he crutched into his room before popping his head back out. “Oh, and uhm, Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for today. It was fun.”

“I had fun, too,” Shiro smiled.

Lance gave a small nod before shutting the door behind him, Shiro following suit shortly after.

 

An hour later, Shiro laid awake in bed, that old feeling of anxiety taking over him as he wondered what the next day would bring. In all honesty, he was scared to meet up with his friends. He’d been avoiding them, and he was sure they knew it. But mostly what he was scared of was leaving Lance alone on a holiday he knew the man was excited about celebrating with him.

Lance... Why couldn’t he just avoid his friends forever and stay here with Lance?

No, he needed to see his friends, he knew that. They cared about him, and he shouldn’t be nervous about seeing them!

Though, the more he thought about seeing them, the more he realized he just wanted to get it over with so he could come back home to Lance.

Well... Not ‘come home to.’ That sounded... ‘Come to visit’ — yeah, that’s what he meant.

Yeah. Visiting Lance...

Shiro felt some of that anxiety melt away as he shut his eyes. Images of the day he had with Lance flashed through his mind, relaxing him as he finally drifted off into sleep. And if he dreamed about pretty blue eyes, well, he’d pretend they were Allura’s when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shiro: my heart skipped a beat when i saw you were putting hearts on our pie bro, no homo  
> shiro: i stared at your naked chest because i wanted to see how ‘healthy’ you were, no homo  
> shiro: i dreamed about ur eyes bro, but no homo


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro meets up with his friends.

At 3 o’clock on Christmas Eve, Shiro walked into Magic Maker, a small bakery and cafe where his friends were already waiting for him. When the group saw him, they called him over and he took the seat across from Keith between Allura and Matt at their small square table. They said their hellos and the sweet owner named Hunk took their orders before Matt got straight to business.

“Where have you been, dude?” he asked.

“What do you mean? I’ve been here.”

“No you haven’t,” Keith corrected. “You’ve been randomly disappearing the past two months. You don’t hang out with us anymore and you’re never home. You just say that you’re busy and go out to that cabin.”

“It feels like you’re trying to avoid us, darling,” Allura added.

“What? No! I’m not trying to do that at all,” Shiro said. “I’m sorry if it seemed that way.”

“It’s okay. We’re just worried about you, man,” Matt said with a concerned look.

“Are you alright?” Allura asked.

“Yes. I’m fine. I’m sorry I’ve made you worry. You guys know how rough this year has been. I’ve just been needing some time to figure things out, is all,” Shiro said. He figured it would be best to not mention the fact that he had a man that could turn into a wolf staying at his cabin.

“We know that, and we care about you. But you don’t have to figure everything out alone, Shiro,” said Keith.

Shiro smiled sadly at his friends. He’d been pushing them away for months, even before Halloween. Telling himself that he was only disappearing because of his cabin-guest would be far from the truth. He’d been trying to isolate himself ever since the incident. They had good reason to worry.

“You’re right, Keith. Thank you. All three of you. I appreciate you looking out for me. I’ve been pretty inattentive — especially to my lady,” he winked at Allura, who blushed lightly. “And I’m sorry. I’m feeling a lot better now, and talking with you guys has helped too. I promise I’ll be more present and stop disappearing so much. I love you guys.”

“We love you, too, Takashi,” Allura said.

“You’ll be spending tomorrow with us, right?” Matt asked.

“Yes,” Shiro nodded.

“But tonight with me...” Allura bit her lip.

“Y-Yes.”

Shiro swallowed but his throat felt dry. He wasn’t sure why, but hearing Allura’s insinuation made him nervous.

“Ugh,” Keith rolled his eyes and picked up his phone, as was his typical response to Shiro and Allura’s flirting. But something behind the playful scoff seemed more serious than usual.

“Keith, don’t be that way,” Allura said. “I can’t help it if I want to have some fun with my neglectful boyfriend once in a while.”

“Hey!” Shiro said defensively.

“I’m only joking, dear.”

She moved into his space and pressed a kiss to his temple. He leaned into it like he normally would, but if felt off. There was a slight hesitation in contact, and Shiro couldn’t tell which side it came from. When Allura pulled away, he saw in her eyes that she’d felt it too.

“Well, before our food gets here, I’m going to go freshen up,” she said, standing up.

“Hurry back, princess,” Keith told her, looking up from the phone in his face.

Allura giggled as she walked towards the bathroom. Shiro watched her as she went, but didn’t miss Keith’s gaze following her as well. He raised an eyebrow at his friend once he turned back around.

“‘Princess’?” he asked.

“Oh, It’s just a nickname we came up with. Since she’s so proper and floats around everywhere she goes, she’s kinda like a princess, don’t you think?” Keith explained casually.

“Yeah, I do think,” Shiro replied, a small edge to his voice.

Keith took a sip of his drink and Matt looked at his phone. Shiro could tell there was more to the story, but he dropped it and the conversation became quiet.

It’s not that he was jealous. They were all friends, and had been before Shiro and Allura started dating. Keith had every right to give her a nickname. But something about ‘princess’ just didn’t sit right with Shiro.

“Alright, I’m back,” Allura said as she sat back down a few moments later. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh, that’s alright _princess_ ,” Shiro said sweetly. He took Allura’s hand and kissed it, making a point to look at Keith as he did.

“What’s with that nickname, huh?” she tittered lightly.

“I told Shiro that we started using that nickname on you,” Keith said with a blank expression. But there was a glint in his eye that Shiro couldn’t read.

“Yes! We did,” she confirmed. “See? You’ve been off disappearing and missed out on fun things like new nicknames.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Before he could think more about it, Hunk brought them their food.

“Enjoy!” he said when everyone was served.

“Thank you, Hunk!” Matt called after him with a big smile.

Shiro took in the plate in front of him. He’d ordered a sandwich, but what he’d gotten was a masterpiece. The dish was garnished with little leaves Shiro had never seen before and different sauces to try with his sandwich swirled around the plate. It smelled... magical. No wonder his friends chose to meet here.

Lunch proceeded as normal, and everyone told Shiro stuff about their lives that he’d missed. His paranoia melted away with the delicious food and good conversation. He was actually enjoying himself. Why had he worried himself about meeting up with his best friends in the whole world? All he needed was a little break, and he should have just told them that up front. But that didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was that he was with them again, and it was like another broken piece of him was put back together. Everything felt right.

Well, almost.

 

Once they’d all finished eating, they paid Hunk and each gave him a nice tip for his wonderful cooking.

“Bye, Hunk! Merry Christmas!” Allura called as they walked to the front of the cafe.

“Goodbye guys!” the cheery man said and waved them goodbye. “Thanks for stopping in! Merry Christmas to you as well!”

“I swear Hunk uses actual magic on his food, there’s no way anything could be that good without it,” Matt said, rubbing his stomach.

“Is that his real name?” Shiro asked.

“What, Hunk? Probably. Suits him well.”

“Matt’s super gay for him,” Keith said.

“I am not! I just think he’s nice and he cooks like an angel, that’s all,” he corrected, cheeks tinted pink. “Now, I don’t know about you losers, but I’m gonna go see the new Star Wars movie. Who’s with me?”

“Alright, let’s go,” Shiro laughed.

Shiro took Allura’s hand in his own as they walked to their cars. She smiled at him and he squeezed her hand in return. They were nearly to their cars when Matt patted his pockets frantically.

“Wait. I forgot my phone. I’ll go back in, you guys go ahead, okay? Shiro, can you call it for me?”

“Oh. Sure,” Shiro said.

“He probably just wants to see Hunk again,” Keith said, strapping on his helmet.

“Probably,” Shiro laughed.

Matt ran back inside while Allura and Shiro got into his car together. Keith sped off on his motorcycle, and Shiro pulled out his phone and hit the call button while he followed Keith toward the movie theater.

 

“Found it!” Matt said over the phone a few rings later.

“Cool.”

Shiro figured Matt would just hang up, but instead, his voice dropped a little lower than normal.

“Shiro? For the record,” he said, “I don’t call her that. ‘Princess,’ I mean. It’s just Keith.“

Matt hung up and Shiro brought the phone down away from his ear.

_Does...Does that mean...? Keith and Allura...?_

He shook his head softly to rid of such thinking. Matt was a jokester. He was probably just messing around, trying to get into Shiro’s head. 

As he drove, slender fingers curled around Shiro’s arm, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked over at Allura. She was smiling sweetly at him. He twitched a smile at her and then focused back on the road.

_Oh, God._


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the dancing chapter that every fic needs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes this one is a little sadder than i had originally wanted but hey it helps the story along, so whatever works.
> 
> the songs i use here are “in the still of the night” by the five satins and “this night” by billy joel if you want to listen along with them lol

“Lance? ...Lance?”

Shiro walked into the cabin late in the evening with a purpose. He’d done a lot of thinking on his drive up, but he needed his friend to help him rationalize it all out. Lance was thankfully in the kitchen — getting a piece of their pie, it seemed — so he didn’t have to walk far to find his friend.

“Hey, Shiro. I didn’t expect you to come by tonight. What’s up?”

Shiro didn’t say a word, instead he just walked up to the brunet and hugged him.

“Whoah, dude. Are you okay?” Lance said, wrapping his arms around the slightly larger man. “What’s going on?”

“I think Allura is cheating on me with Keith.”

“What?!”

Lance knew from how often Shiro told stories of his friends’ adventures who Allura and Keith were. He was just as surprised as Shiro to hear such accusations.

“Talk to me, why do you think that?” he asked, pushing Shiro away gently to hear his explanation.

“It’s a long story, but I can’t get the idea out of my head. At lunch they- he calls her ‘Princess’ and Matt said... Then at the movie-” Shiro shook his head, trying to forget the image of them sitting and laughing together. “She wanted to go home with me tonight for Christmas, but I- I couldn’t do it. All I kept seeing was them together and-“

“Hey, hey, Shiro,” Lance pulled the man back to him and rubbed big circles into his back. “Shiro, it’s okay.”

“I don’t know what to do. Or, what I _should_ do.”

“You don’t have to do anything. This is just speculation, right? Do you know for sure that they’re cheating?”

“No,” Shiro said honestly. He really didn’t know if it was true. Not that it mattered. Nothing would be the same now anyway, especially after he ditched his and Allura’s Christmas Eve plans.

“Alright. You don’t know for sure. Time will tell if this is true or not, but for now, you don’t need to stress about it.”

“That’s part of the problem. I don’t even know what I’m stressed about,” Shiro said blankly into Lance’s shoulder.

“Well, you’re obviously stressed about _something_. Let’s go sit on the couch, okay?” Lance asked.

Shiro nodded and Lance brought him into the living room and sat next to him on the couch.

“Tell me what happened today,” Lance said calmly.

“We were just eating lunch and the whole time just... I don’t know. Everything felt off. It wasn’t even just Keith calling Allura ‘Princess’ it was... Allura was off and I- It didn’t feel right. Nothing felt _right_ like... when I’m here with you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I...” Shiro started. He saw that Lance’s cheeks had turned slightly pink at his words and he shook his head, not wanting to follow _that_ train of thought just yet. “I don’t know!” he finally said. “Everything is so confusing. I’m so- I don’t-“

“Heeeyy, hey now,” Lance soothed with a comforting hand on his back. “It’s okay, Shiro.”

Shiro covered his face with his hand to try to stop himself from freaking out. He felt like crying, but it wasn’t from heartbreak. This was a different kind of confusion. But Lance’s hand on his back helped him calm down. Lance’s presence helped him calm down. Everything about Lance helped him feel calm.

“Star Wars is ruined for me,” he said after he’d composed himself a bit.

“What?! No way.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t even concentrate on the movie because I was too zoned out the whole time.”

“Maybe you can take me and we can watch it together and create a new memory on top of the original one,” Lance smiled. “Although I haven’t seen the last one, so we should probably watch it before we go. Or we could just binge watch all of them.”

Shiro could tell Lance was trying his best to cheer him up. It was working a bit, but there were so many emotions swimming around inside him, even ones he didn’t dare touch, that prevented him from thinking straight.

“Or not,” Lance said at Shiro’s silence.

“What? Oh, no, no that sounds great, Lance. I’m sorry, I’m still just... I’m thinking. And confused. I don’t know what to do or how to feel because during my drive up here I think I realized that... my feelings for her are different. I still love her, just... not in the same way I used to. When she kissed me after the movie I barely felt anything. That’s sort of why I bolted. Yet thinking about her with Keith still hurts? How does that make sense?” Shiro asked.

“The feeling of someone you care about going behind your back, no matter your feelings for them, is never a good one. It always sucks,” Lance said reasonably. “But what you need to ask yourself is, if you _didn’t_ already think she was cheating, would your feelings for her have changed?”

“I...don’t know,” Shiro said. “Maybe? I mean, even before my suspicion started, it felt like something was different.”

“Different coming from which side?”

“I... From both sides.”

“Then maybe it’s time to move on?” Lance asked.

Shiro looked at Lance, wondering what he was thinking about all this. He knew Lance had always had something for him, even if it was just basic flirting. But there was no malice or selfishness in his face, he truly only wanted what was best for him. Shiro didn’t know if that information helped his confusion or made it worse.

“You’re right. Maybe it is... But I don’t want to do that to her. I _do_ still love her, in a way. And I don’t want to break it off just from a suspicion and a weird feeling, if she’s not- She’d be heartbroken.”

“I understand. But you have to think about what’s best for you, too, Shiro,” Lance said.

He knew Lance was right, but it wasn’t even just for Allura’s sake. He wasn’t sure that he could take another loss this year. 

“Ugh, I’m just tired of thinking!” he finally said. “The more I do, the more I just sink lower and lower into this weird pit of confusion.”

“Then don’t.”

“...What?” Shiro asked.

“Don’t think,” Lance said. “Don’t feel. Take your mind off of it.”

“I-I can’t,” Shiro replied. “I’m not sure how I can just-“

“Dance with me.”

“What?” he asked again.

“You heard me,” Lance smiled.

“I don’t know how dancing is going to help.”

“Dancing always helps.”

Lance stood from the couch and walked over to the light switch.

“But your leg-“

Shiro cut himself off as he finally looked Lance over. He was wearing the baseball tee and jeans Shiro had brought for him. The bottom of the jeans were pulled down over his leg — which had been unbound — and there were no crutches under his arms.

“All healed,” Lance said with a flourish of his hands.

“How? When?”

“I told you that I heal more quickly than normal humans. And as for when? Well, let’s just say I only took the bandages off today.”

“Oh,” Shiro said.

“So... Dance with me?”

Shiro blinked as he thought it over. He could really use a breather from his swirling mind. And if Lance thought dancing would help, then by all means he was willing to give it a try. Quickly, he nodded his head at Lance and stood up, moving to the middle of the room.

The living room was lightly decorated for Christmas. Lance must have done it while Shiro was with his friends. It wasn’t much, but he knew Lance had wanted to decorate, so he had brought over the few things he could find in his new apartment. Small ornaments and cut outs of Christmas trees and candy canes had been placed on the walls. A few of Shiro’s mother’s old snowmen figures sat on the shelves and coffee table. And above the fireplace hung a string of colorful lights that casted a dim glow around the room as Lance flipped off the light switch.

Once the mood was set, the brunet moved to the stereo that Shiro had brought a few weeks ago. He pushed a button and then sidled up against Shiro in one fluid motion. His left hand went to Shiro’s shoulder and his right took the man’s human hand just as the music started playing.

_In the still of the night_  
_I held you, held you tight..._

“Oh, that’s funny,” Shiro said, recognizing the song right away.

“What?”

“Well... Not ‘funny,’ exactly, but... This is the song that was playing the night I... Uh, when we met.”

“Oh? OH. Right. Oh, geez. That’s a bit of a mood-killer, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Shiro agreed lightly.

“Here, I’ll change it,” Lance said and pulled a tiny remote out of his pocket.

“You came prepared.”

“Of course. I didn’t want to give you a moment to back out by leaving your side.”

Shiro just laughed in reply, already feeling the stress of the evening start to wear off as Lance changed the song.

_Didn't I say I wasn't ready for romance?_  
_Didn't we promise we would only be friends?_  
_And so we danced, though it was only a slow dance._  
_I started breaking my promises right there and then..._

“You know something?” Shiro said, the song bringing him right back. “I feel like I should be more angry, too. At both of them, but I’m not. I-“

“Hey,” Lance cut him off. “Don’t think, just dance.”

“...Alright.”

_Suddenly I don’t remember the rules anymore._  
_This night..._

“Why are all these songs about the night?” Lance asked.

“It’s an old mix of songs my parents used to listen to.”

“Oh! Well! It’s nice! ...Fun fact!” Lance said, obviously trying to keep Shiro’s mind off of anything that would bring him down. “The chorus of this song is to the tune of Beethoven’s second movement of the Pathetique.”

“Oh really?” Shiro smiled at the gesture. “Did you know him too?”

“Excuse me, I’m not _that_ old, thank you very much.”

“How am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me how old you are?”

“I need to keep an air of mystery about me,” Lance said.

“Sure, sure.”

_I’ve been around. Someone like me should know better._

“If I’m being completely honest, my leg would’ve healed a lot faster if I’d shifted more, but I didn’t. ...I wanted to stay here longer.”

_Falling in love would be the worst thing I could do._

“Lance. Don’t worry about it,” Shiro reassured. “You really haven’t shifted in a while, have you? Not around me, anyway.”

_Didn't I say I needed time to forget her?_

“No. Which, probably isn’t the smartest decision, but anyway-“ Lance continued. “Like I said, I wanted to stay. I hope you don’t think I was taking advantage or anything, I just... I like being around you. Meeting you is probably the best thing that’s happened to me all year.”

_Aren’t you running from someone who’s not over you?_

“Me too,” Shiro said.

“Really?” Lance asked sincerely.

“Yes.”

_How many nights have I been lonely without you?_  
_I tell myself how much I really don't care._  
_How many nights have I been thinking about you?_  
_Wanting to hold you but knowing you would not be there._

When Lance’s voice came back, it was quiet - more gentle than Shiro had ever heard it before.

“Remember what I said about Beethoven?”

Shiro nodded in response, scared to speak for fear he’d ruin the gentle moment.

“Listen,” Lance said, as the chorus came back around. “ _This night you're mine. It’s only you and I_ ,” he sang gently, trying to get Shiro to hear the musical similarities between the two pieces. His fingers pressed lightly against Shiro’s shoulder in time, as if he was playing an unseen piano along with the music. “ _I'll tell you to forget yesterday. This night we are together_.”

“I can hear it,” Shiro finally spoke. His voice was low, that small moment with Lance something he didn’t want to break just yet.

“Good,” Lance whispered back.

They swayed along as the saxophone sang it’s solo.

“Um, Shiro...?” Lance said, still in that same quiet voice.

“Yes?”

“We agreed that I could stay here until my leg got better, right?”

“Right,” Shiro confirmed.

“Well, my leg is all better, now. So I’m guessing you’re going to want me to leave soon...”

“Don’t.”

“Wh-“

“Don’t leave. Stay here,” Shiro said. “Please, Lance. I want you to stay.”

“For how long?”

“...Forever,” he shrugged, as if it was no big deal.

“I don’t think you realize just how long that may be, dear,” Lance said. “Remember, I age very slowly. Forever could be longer than you think.”

“I don’t care. I want you to stay. A-As long as you want to, I mean,” Shiro added. “Uh, how long _do_ you want to stay?”

Lance stepped away from Shiro, spinning in and back out, then moved back to their previous position before answering with a shrug of his own.

“Forever,” he smirked.

_This night is mine..._  
_It’s only you and I._  
_Tomorrow is such a long time away._  
_This night can last forever._

Shiro smiled, happiness filling his entire being at Lance’s honest statement. He spun Lance again, this time taking the lead and letting him curl into his chest before pushing him out again. When Lance came back to him, he leaned into the boy, dipping him backwards. As he slowly brought Lance back up, their faces ended up only a few centimeters apart.

Shiro could feel Lance’s breathing on his lips and nose, and the sudden, overwhelming urge to kiss his friend fell over him. Lance must have felt it too, because his eyes fluttered shut and he angled up his mouth slightly in anticipation.

“Shiro...”

Shiro leaned in, faint whispers dancing on his lips as Lance’s breath hitched.

 _Lance..._ Shiro’s brain filled in just as he was about to close the gap.

 _No,_ Allura _._

_No..._

“Lance.”

Shiro’s eyes shot open and he saw a look of confusion on the boy’s lightly flushed face. Lance opened his eyes and Shiro looked away from him, knowing Lance’s eyes were wanting an answer to a question that Shiro couldn’t give.

“Hmm?” Lance breathed.

“Th-The music stopped,” Shiro said, swallowing heavily as he found his voice again.

“Oh. It did.”

Their faces were still just inches away from each other. The words they’d spoken were mingled between shared breaths.

“Uh, I-I should... head to bed,” Shiro said, clearing his throat and thus killing the warm atmosphere as he moved away. “I’m worn out from today and I think I just need to sleep. Thank you for dancing with me Lance.”

“I should be the one thanking you,” Lance smiled, already back to his usual playful self as he went to turn off the stereo.

“Anytime.”

“Now, don’t promise me that, Shirogane,” Lance warned. “I’ll take you up on that offer and make you dance with me every day.”

“Like I said,” Shiro smiled. “Anytime.”

The smile on Lance’s face grew as his cheeks flushed a deeper red than before.

“Merry Christmas,” he said with a nod.

“Merry Christmas.”

 

Shiro walked to his room and shut the door behind him. Once he was alone, he plopped down face first onto his bed. Those confusing feelings were already coming back as he closed his eyes.

He had almost kissed Lance. He _wanted_ to kiss Lance. But he couldn’t do that to him. Couldn’t give himself to Lance when he was still with Allura.

_Allura._

He couldn’t do that to her either. Whether she was cheating on him or not, it wouldn’t be right. Plus, he still loved her... Didn’t he...?

Dammit! Why had he danced with Lance?! That had only made him more confused! Part of him wanted to believe that Lance had taken advantage of his weakened emotional state and that he should be upset, but he wasn’t. Not at Lance. He could never be upset at Lance.

He only had himself to blame.

 

That night was restless for Shiro, constantly being awoken by haunting dreams of the people in his life looking down on him or being hurt by him. One dream in particular scared him more than any other. 

He dreamed of that night, when he was driving to the cabin and slammed on his breaks. He’d hit something. Stepping out of his car, he looked down to the ground where the poor being laid. It was Lance, human, bloodied, and reaching out for Shiro as he died.

And it was all Shiro’s fault.

 

Shiro awoke with a start, panting and tears running down his face as he realized it was only a nightmare. A nightmare that had felt too real.

He looked around his room to ground himself. The clock by his bedside read 4 am.

He wouldn’t be sleeping the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lance: “why are all these songs about night?”  
> shiro: “the author loves both these songs and is indecisive so she used both with a poor excuse of changing the song for us to dance to so she could use the song she wanted”  
> lance: “that doesn’t make any sense”  
> shiro: “i know, just go with it”
> 
>  
> 
> hi!! i’m really proud of this chapter and i would love to hear your insight!! please leave a comment telling me how good or bad you think i did ;) thank you!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas day chaos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don’t even know how to explain this chapter without giving anything away. i will say that this chapter is way longer than any of the others, mostly just because so much happens that it’s hard to separate it out or else i would have divided it into two chapters. hope you enjoy!

Shiro rolled himself out of bed around 9am. Lance was still asleep in his room, so Shiro went straight to the kitchen and made himself some coffee. He’d maybe slept an hour last night before that nightmare about Lance kept him from sleeping, so he needed all the help he could get to stay awake. Dwelling on the dream didn’t help him any, so he marked it off as just his guilt playing tricks with him.

The house was quiet, no Lance to make it come alive just yet. At times like these, Shiro always wondered if that’s what it would be like if he’d come here alone on Halloween like he’d originally planned. Now that he’d had the experience of Lance being around, however, Shiro hated the idea of being alone in such a big cabin. Though, the few hours of silence while Lance was still asleep was always nice every once in a while.

After he’d finished his first cup of coffee, Shiro started on breakfast. They still had a few eggs left in the fridge from the last morning he was here, so he got to preparing a couple for each of them the way Lance had taught him.

By the time the eggs were done, Lance still hadn’t risen, so Shiro sat Lance’s plate aside and ate in silence by himself. He looked out the window of the kitchen at the dreary sleet falling outside. So much for a white Christmas.

Around 10, Shiro finally decided he should go wake up Lance when he heard the sound of car doors slamming from outside.

Wait, car doors?

Shiro jumped up from his barstool and ran to the window, leaning over the counter to peek at the cabin’s driveway. He hoped and prayed it wasn’t what he thought it was, but, sure enough, three familiar faces started making their way to his front door.

Shiro panicked. What were his friends doing here? They’d never come to visit him while he was staying there before. How did they even-?

Right. His and Allura’s phones were sharing locations with each other. He silently cursed himself for not turning it off and sighed before moving to the front door to accept his fate.

There was barely a knock at the door before Shiro opened it to greet his friends.

“I heard you coming,” he said at their bewildered faces. “Why are you here?”

“I think the better question is why are _you_ here instead of celebrating Christmas with us?” Matt said, very obviously miffed.

“I-I... I’m sorry, I just-“

“No ‘I’m sorry, I just’ from you, mister. We were worried about you,” Allura scolded. “You skipped town and missed our Christmas Eve plans,” she pouted.

“Sorry. Er, uh, I mean...”

“Dude, can you let us in? It’s freezing,” Keith said, shivering slightly.

“Oh! Yeah. Um, wait... About that.”

“What, you’re _not_ gonna let us in?” he joked.

“No, I am! But first I... I need to come clean.” Shiro knew there was no way to hide Lance from them forever, so he might as well just tell them what happened.

“Come clean about what, darling?” Allura asked.

What should he tell them? Would it be okay to tell them about Lance? That he hit a person? That would only freak them out more. But he had to finish what he’d began, so he had to say _something_.

“Remember during Halloween when I came here?” he said slowly. “Well, I... hit someone.”

“You _hit_ someone?” Matt asked.

“Yeah. With my truck... Don’t worry!” he said before his friends could freak out. “He’s fine. I took care of him. Or, rather, _am_ taking care of him. That’s why I keep coming up to the cabin. I’ve been letting him stay here while he heals.”

“You’re letting a random stranger that you hit with your car stay at your cabin?” Keith asked incredulously.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say he’s a ‘random stranger,’ but...”

“Who is this guy?”

Shiro looked to the faces of his friends, all staring back at him with looks of absolute worry and fear. He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have just told them to go away and continue living his secret life. Except he’d promised to stop disappearing, so they deserved to know what was going on. But it wasn’t like they’d just be okay with finding out he’s basically been living with a guy that can turn into a...

...wolf.

And idea struck Shiro, and he really hoped it would work.

“He’s... a dog.”

“A dog?” Allura asked, smile growing on her face. “You have a dog here and you haven’t told any of us? Well, let’s meet him!”

She pushed past him into the cabin and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Matt and Keith followed her in and soon they were all inside, looking around curiously.

“Wait!” Shiro said, not wanting them to stumble upon a human man while looking for this “dog” of his. “He’s uh, a little nervous around new people. It would be best if you all waited in the living room and I’ll bring him out for you.”

“Yeah, alright,” Matt smiled understandingly. “Come on, guys.”

The other two followed Matt into the living room and they all sat on the couch, waiting excitedly to meet Shiro’s new furry friend.

 

Shiro, however, was terrified as he quickly walked to Lance’s room, hoping his friend would go along with his plan.

“Lance?” he whispered as he opened the door.

The boy was still sleeping soundly in his bed, covers strewn every which way as he snored lightly.

Shiro creeped over to Lance’s bedside and knelt down near his face. “Lance!” he whispered again, shaking the sleeping man gently so he would wake up.

“Mmm, five more minutes...” Lance said, still half asleep.

“No, Lance. Wake up.”

“UgGHHGGH-“

“SSHHH!” Shiro said, cutting Lance off to make him be quiet.

“What? What is it? Is something wrong?” the brunet asked blearily.

“My friends are here.”

“Really?! I can’t wait to meet them!”

Lance threw the covers off himself and started to stand up, but Shiro grabbed his arm and pulled him right back down.

“See, that’s the thing...” Shiro said guiltily. “I may have... Um...”

“What did you do?” Lance said, annoyance already showing on his face.

“I told them you were a dog.”

“YOU WH-?!“

“SHH!! Please, Lance,” Shiro said, putting a hand over the brunet’s mouth. “I had to tell them something and I couldn’t just tell them that I hit a person with my car. I mean, they already worry about me enough. But then I couldn’t tell them I hit an animal that turned _into_ a person either because they wouldn’t believe me and they’d think I’m crazy and so I... said you were a dog. Which is like, half correct.”

“More like not correct _at all_ -“

“I know! I know. I’m sorry. Please just... pretend? For a bit? Only until they leave.”

“...Fine,” Lance whispered loudly, pushing Shiro away so he could get up and undress. “But I’m not barking.”

“Thank you! I owe you a dance.”

“ _Yeah_ , you do.”

 

A few moments later, Shiro walked into the living room with Lance, in wolf form, trailing right behind him.

“Guys, this is... ah, Rover,” Shiro said, gesturing to Lance.

Shiro knew Lance couldn’t speak as a wolf, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t shoot Shiro the nastiest look for calling him a dog’s name instead of his real name. It would be almost comical if Shiro wasn’t terrified of his friends finding out the truth.

“Hi, Rover!” Allura said in a baby voice. “Come ‘ere!”

Lance looked to Shiro, who nodded his head, before slowly making his way over to the three people on the couch. Allura reached a hand out and Lance sniffed it before nuzzling it gently, giving her permission to pet him.

Shiro sat in the chair near the couch and watched as Lance really milked his role for all it was worth. It was obvious that he was loving the attention that Shiro’s friends were giving him.

“Who’s a good boy? Yes, you are. Ohhh, did the big, bad man hit you with his car? I’m so sorry babyyy...” she said in the same voice.

“That was two months ago!” Shiro said defensively. “He’s fine, now.”

“Still...”

“Hey, he kinda looks like a wolf, you know?” Matt said, crouching on the ground to pet the back of Lance’s neck. “Are you sure he’s a dog?” he joked. 

“What? Of course he is! Why wouldn’t he be?” Shiro chuckled nervously. “I mean, if he was a wolf he would have probably killed all of us by now, haha... Ahem, also, he barks.”

Lance’s head twisted around towards Shiro, sending him a silent, pleading glare of _do not make me bark._

“La- Uh, Rover. Come here, boy,” Shiro said and Lance stepped away from the couch and trotted over to the chair that Shiro was sitting in.

This was bizarre. For Shiro definitely, but he was sure it was bizarre for Lance, too. They were the only ones that knew “Rover” wasn’t actually a dog, but a human, so when Shiro reached a hand over to pet Lance as a reward for listening, there was a slight hesitation in his movements before he finally made contact.

Lance’s fur was soft, a lot softer than the night when Shiro had patched him up. He felt a lot meatier too, instead of the scrawny thing that Shiro had laid on his couch.

“Good boy,” Shiro finally said, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say the animal was smiling up at him from the praise.

Yeah, this was super bizarre.

“Sit,” Shiro played along, and Lance obeyed like a well-trained dog. “Good boy. Now, speak.”

Lance flashed him that same nasty look from earlier, before opening his mouth and letting out a small “boof.”

“Oh, come on, you can do better than that. Speak!” Shiro said again.

Shiro was sure Lance sighed before making the closest sound to a bark a wolf could probably make.

“Yeah! Good boy!” Shiro laughed. He nearly forgot that he was talking to a human man as he petted Lance again.

The dead stare Lance was holding told Shiro that he wasn’t happy, so he tried to move his hand down from Lance’s head to pet the side of his neck, when suddenly the wolf chewed on his hand.

“Ow! Dude!” Shiro said. “Uh- No biting!” he recovered, tapping Lance on the nose like he would scold a real dog.

Lance whimpered and sat his head on Shiro’s thigh, feigning innocence.

“‘Dude?’” Keith chuckled. “You talk to him like he’s a person.”

“HAHA! Yeah! That’s- I sure do!” Shiro said, overcompensatingly obvious.

He was having a hard time trying to keep his cover while so blatantly lying to his friends. Comments like that only made him feel more paranoid. But Lance was doing a great job, and Shiro was thankful for it.

“He’s a good friend, so it’s easy to talk to him. That’s why I come here so often. To see him,” Shiro said honestly, petting Lance behind the ear. “And my apartment doesn’t allow pets, which is why I keep him here,” he added quickly.

“Well, it’s obvious that you love him a lot,” Allura said.

Shiro’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He knew she meant it as literal puppy love, but... It was obvious?

He looked down at Lance, who was staring back at him with an ear raised in question. _How cute_ , Shiro thought. Petting his friend’s face, he smiled, feeling calm again just by Lance’s presence, wolf or otherwise.

“Yeah, I do,” he said.

Lance gave a small whimper at the sentiment and nuzzled his face into Shiro’s hand. Without warning, he brought his front paws up to rest on Shiro’s leg and the chair and stood on his hind legs to get closer to Shiro’s face. He then licked a stripe across Shiro’s cheek and the man laughed at the absurdity of it all.

“Gross, dude,” Shiro smiled, wiping off his cheek on his shirt sleeve.

“Looks like Rover loves you, too,” Matt laughed at the pair.

“I guess he does,” Shiro said happily, pushing Lance away from his face.

“Well, as sweet as it is being surrounded by so much love, I’m starving,” Keith said, hopping up. “Got any food, Shiro?”

“Yeah, come on in to the kitchen, I’ll make you guys some eggs.”

Shiro stood up as Lance moved off of him and the group all went into the kitchen, bantering back and forth about Shiro’s inability to cook and how they hoped he wouldn’t burn down the cabin. Once he’d convinced them that they’re “just eggs,” he pulled the egg carton back out of the fridge and brought them over to the stove to start preparing them for his friends. Next to the stove, however, sat the long since forgotten plate he’d set out for Lance. He wasn’t the only one that had noticed it either, as he saw Keith looking from the empty plate on the center island to the plate of eggs on the counter.

“Expecting someone?” Keith asked.

“Uh... No, these are for Rover. I haven’t fed him yet,” Shiro replied. He was technically telling the truth.

“He eats eggs?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, he loves people food.”

“What about dog food?” Allura said. “Don’t tell me you’ve had him since October and still haven’t gotten him proper dog food.”

“...We just ran out,” Shiro said simply. “Rover,” he called to Lance, “come here, boy. Time to eat.”

Lance walked over and Shiro bent down to put the plate of cold eggs on the ground for him. As he pet his friend, he sent him a telepathic apology for the situation. He could almost hear Lance’s voice in return saying how degrading this all was. But, Lance ate nonetheless, so Shiro stood back up and started on making his friends breakfast.

 

Once everyone had gotten their eggs, Shiro brewed another pot of coffee for everyone. Part of him was happy his friends were here, eating breakfast together on Christmas morning — his first Christmas morning without his parents. Another part wished that he’d had the day just him and Lance. And still another part wished that they could be together with Lance as a human, everyone getting to know the real him. Maybe he shouldn’t have told them Lance was a dog, but he’d panicked. He was just glad Lance wasn’t too mad at him for this. At least, he hoped not.

Shiro had almost forgotten about the day before, about his paranoia and jealousy, and the guilt that last night with Lance had brought him. Almost.

“Hey, did you make this pie?” Shiro heard Matt say behind him.

Before he could answer, Allura said, “Impossible. Shiro can’t bake. He can hardly make eggs,” she teased.

“Then where’d it come from, huh?”

“W- I don’t know. Shiro, darling?”

“Yes, I made the pie,” Shiro said, not bothering to look away from the coffee maker.

“By yourself?” Keith asked, holding back a snicker.

“Y-Yes. Why?”

“What’s with the hearts?” Keith said, letting out a small laugh. “Don’t you think that’s a little...”

Shiro knew what Keith was trying to say, and for some reason it got on his nerves.

“What? Gay?” Shiro asked, turning around to look at Keith with a raised eyebrow.

“Well... Yeah. I mean, no offense Matt.”

“I’m not-! Ugh, what _ever_ , dude,” Matt said.

“There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” Shiro said, slight edge to his voice.

“No, I know! It’s just... It’s out of character for you,” Keith said. “First you keep disappearing, then we find out you have a secret dog, now you’re baking pies with little hearts on them? It’s like you’re going through a midlife crisis at 25.”

“I think I just needed some change,” Shiro said shortly. “Look, it’s an old family recipe. Sometimes when you’re the last one in the family, you keep up traditions.” He looked at Lance who walked over and nuzzled his leg, grounding him.

“Right. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“That’s alright, Keith. I know you didn’t,” Shiro smiled sadly.

“Well, it’s a lovely pie, darling,” Allura said to dissipate the tension in the air. “Why don’t we all reconvene in the living room?”

“Sure,” Shiro said, smile returning. “There’s coffee if anyone wants it. I’d offer you guys some pie, but I guess it’ll turn you gay, so... Matt, you want some?” he joked.

“You guys suck,” Matt laughed as they all went back to sit in the living room.

They talked for hours, reminiscing about years past and just catching up with things they hadn’t talked about the day before. They even talked about the movie from last night, much to Lance’s obvious dismay at hearing the spoilers.

Shiro had been having a great time chatting with his friends that he hardly noticed when Lance snuck out of the room. It wasn’t until he heard a small noise from the kitchen, that he looked over and saw a very naked and human Lance standing there, cutting himself a piece of their pie. When Lance noticed Shiro looking at him with a concerned expression, he smiled sweetly, then flipped him off.

Shiro tried not to roll his eyes and looked away from his naked friend in the kitchen. He knew Lance was out of view and would be able to change back before any of his friends saw him, so Shiro focused back at Allura, who was talking to him.

“So, Rover,” she said. “Was he potty trained when you first got him? He seems very well behaved for a stray, especially since you’ve only had him for two months. Maybe he had a previous owner?”

“Well, he didn’t have any tags on him, so I don’t know about previous owners. As for being trained...”

Shiro looked back to Lance, who was still standing there naked and eating the slice of pie he’d gotten out of his hand.

“...we’re still working on a few things.”

“He-!” Lance started to say before slapping a hand over his mouth.

Shiro coughed to try and cover it up, and Lance quickly shifted back into a dog just as Allura leaned her head over the couch to look into the kitchen. Lance started whining, pretending that that was all it was, and it seemed like the others had been convinced.

“It sounded like a human voice for a second!” Allura laughed.

“Yeah, I’ve made that mistake before. Freaked me out a few times,” Shiro covered. “I think he needs to go outside. I’ll take him out real quick, you guys can stay warm in here. It won’t take but a second.”

“No worries, dude,” Matt said.

Shiro got up, grabbed his coat, and called for Lance to follow him outside.

“Dude, what the hell?” Shiro said once they were alone.

“I’m sorry! I forgot for a second,” Lance said, back in human form again. “Shit, it’s cold.”

“Well, you’re naked and it’s sleeting, so...”

“Sorry that clothes don’t just appear when I shift into being human!” Lance said defensively.

“No, I’m sorry,” Shiro sighed. “I should’ve just told them the truth instead of making you pretend to be a dog.”

“You don’t say,” the brunet shivered.

“I was just scared they would think I was crazy for keeping a human man in my cabin.”

“Why would they think that?”

Shiro gave the brunet a weird look, as if the answer was obvious.

“This year has been rough, for all of us,” he finally said. “They worry about my mental state constantly, to the point that it’s almost annoying. And if I randomly decided to let some stranger stay in my cabin without telling them about it? That would just be the icing on the crazy cake, don’t you think?”

“Do _you_ think that?” Lance asked.

“W- No, I...”

“Then why do you care what they think?”

Shiro didn’t know what to say. Why _did_ he care so much about what his friends thought? His parents both died in front of him, of course he would be acting strange for a while after. They’d understand that.

“That’s a good question, Lance. I’ll tell you when I figure it out. But for now, you’re freezing, so why don’t we go back inside. I’ll tell them the truth, if you want. Then you can actually meet them. As long as they don’t freak out about you being half wolf, that is.”

“Nah,” Lance said. “I don’t like it when too many people know about my abilities. Plus, it’s kinda fun pretending to be a dog. It’s like I’m an undercover secret agent. Just with more belly rubs,” he joked. “Tell you what, I’ll keep being ‘Rover’ as long as you stop caring so much about what they think. Deal?”

“Deal,” Shiro nodded. “Let’s go back in.”

“Wait. I actually do need to uh...”

Lance pointed to a nearby tree and Shiro rolled his eyes and waved him off, watching as the man turned into a wolf and disappeared behind the tree to do his business.

 

When the two finally walked back into the living room, only Matt was sitting on the couch.

“Where’d Keith and Allura go?” Shiro asked, sitting back down in his chair. Lance laid across Shiro’s feet for warmth, his wolf form helping him to heat up after nearly freezing his butt off outside.

“Uh, Keith said he needed to use the bathroom, so Allura said she’d show him where it was since she needed to go, too,” Matt explained awkwardly.

“Oh. Alright,” Shiro said and waved off any and all suspicions that tried to creep into his mind. He didn’t want to deal with that on Christmas day.

However, when Lance heard Matt’s explanation, his head shot up and he started sniffing around. He sniffed into the kitchen towards the hall, acting like he was following a trail, but Shiro knew exactly what he was doing.

“Rover, Keith and Allura are going to the bathroom, leave them alone,” Shiro scolded, before mumbling under his breath, “Don’t make it weird.”

Lance, however, didn’t listen and continued to follow their scent down the hallway anyway.

Shiro gave up and then turned his attention to Matt. It wasn’t often the two of them were able to be alone together.

“How are you holding up?” Shiro asked his friend.

“Me? I mean, I’m okay. I went to the bathroom earlier.”

“You know what I’m asking, Matt.”

Matt sighed and let his jokester facade slip for a moment.

“It’s been two years, Shiro. I’m almost starting to believe she’s... I want to think she’s alive. For me, and my parents. But she’s a smart kid, if she was alive, she would have figured out a way to let us know she was safe or even find her way home, you know?”

Two years ago, Matt’s kid sister Katie — also known as Pidge — went out to get food after school and never came home. Everyone that knew her was devastated, but they’d all held out hope that she’d be found. However, with no leads, every search and investigation just came back empty. Then, when the Shirogane’s were in the wreck, all attention went to Shiro and how best to take care of him since he now had no parents and no right arm. Shiro felt bad, knowing that the Holts were still missing their daughter, and he tried to help them continue their search, but even Matt stopped talking about it and focused his attention to Shiro’s best interest whenever they were together.

“I know, bud. I’m so sorry. I know she’s still out there, and we’ll find her. I’ll help you guys keep looking-“

“That’s okay, Shiro. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to just stop talking about it,” Matt said.

Shiro was about to keep going, say that Matt shouldn’t just give up hope, but the look on his friend’s face was a look Shiro knew all too well. Matt was tired. Tired of searching and hoping and praying for something he’d already deemed impossible. Tired of waiting for his sister to come home. He was ready to mourn, just like Shiro had mourned his parents. And Shiro knew better than to keep him from that.

“Alright,” he finally responded.

The room fell silent as the two boys tried to think of a new topic of conversation. They didn’t have to wait long, however, because Lance came trotting back into the living room, straight to Shiro. He whined helplessly, unable to just say what he needed.

“What is it, boy?” Shiro asked, patting the animal’s head.

Lance kept whining and even jerked his head sideways to point behind him. When Shiro still didn’t understand, Lance bit his pant leg and pulled, telling Shiro to get up.

“Alright, alright. What’s going on?” Shiro said as he finally stood up.

Lance walked into the kitchen a ways and then looked back, silently begging Shiro to follow him.

Shiro and Matt shared a glance before they both started after Lance. He led them down the hallway to the end where Shiro’s bedroom door was. Sitting down, he looked back at Shiro, who then reached for the handle and pushed the door open.

 

“Oh, shit,” Matt said before Shiro had even taken in the whole room.

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” Allura tried, pushing Keith away from her. But everyone, including her, knew she was wrong.

“Oh, so you guys _weren’t_ sucking face just now?” Matt asked in Shiro’s silence.

“Okay, it _is_ what it looks like,” Keith said. “But we didn’t- We weren’t-“

“It’s my fault. Keith is only doing this because I asked him to,” Allura tried to explain. “Shiro, you’ve been gone so much and... Keith and I were so worried and we started spending more time together. He was there, and- and you weren’t... It wasn’t supposed to last this long. I thought being with you last night would change everything. But then you ghosted again and I had to ask Keith to take me home and... he ended up staying the night.”

“Shiro. Look bro,” Keith said, stepping towards him. “I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen. Neither of us did. I would never do anything to hurt you, it just kind of sprung up on us and we went with it. But it was wrong of us to go behind your back. I’m so sorry, man.”

“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Allura asked, voice shaking slightly.

“...Get out.”

“Wha-“

“Get out,” Shiro repeated more firmly.

“Shiro, my love-“ Allura said, teary eyed.

“I’m _not_. Your love. Haven’t been for a while. Obviously.”

“Bro-“ Keith tried.

“Yeah, you’re not my brother, either,” Shiro said offhandedly. “Both of you, get the hell out of my cabin.” 

His words hit both of them in the face like a slap. Allura’s tears started to fall and Keith nodded at Shiro before putting an arm around her and escorting her out of the room. As they walked by Lance, he snarled at them, making them both jump and hurry outside to wait in the car.

“Matthew...”

“I didn’t know for sure, or else I would have told you. You know that,” Matt said.

“I do know that. But I think it would be best if you left, too. Go now and you’ll get home before it gets too dark,” Shiro replied, his voice still completely even as he stared down to the floor.

“I understand. Take care of yourself, okay? And call me if you need me. I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I’m not,” he said.

They both looked at Lance, who was holding his ground in case he needed to chase Matt out, too. But the blonde just twitched a sad smile to the floor and made his leave, shutting the door behind him.

There were two seconds of silence as everything that had just shattered around Shiro settled into the floor. He blinked, and a tear he hadn’t even noticed fell down his cheek. Confusedly, he wiped his face and looked at his fingers, the liquid already starting to dry into his skin.

Lance had turned human again, and he led Shiro to the edge of his bed to sit down. He grabbed a pair of pajama pants from Shiro’s drawer and put them on before sitting down next to Shiro.

“Do you want me to lea-“

“No, Lance. Stay. Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Shiro.”

Lance grabbed the blanket from the edge of the bed and wrapped it around them both before curling into Shiro’s side. Lance’s presence and warmth helped Shiro stay grounded, even as he felt himself start to cry.

He wasn’t sure why he was crying. He’d been almost convinced they were cheating anyway, seeing it with his own eyes didn’t give him anything but proof. Yet it still felt like a loss, and there had already been so much loss in his life. His parents, Katie, and now his girlfriend and a brother. He’d nearly lost Lance before he even knew him, and how terrible it was to think of that now.

The tears he cried were tears of loss, but they were also tears of relief. He didn’t have to worry about Allura and not being there for her. He didn’t have to worry about Keith and how he would get along without Shiro’s constant presence. He didn’t have to worry about his mixed and confusing feelings anymore. He was free from worrying and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. His tears washed away those old burdens and brought a clear mind.

Lance was still holding onto Shiro long after his tears had stopped. They sat in the silence, Lance just staying there, waiting for as long as Shiro needed him to. Finally, Shiro stirred and Lance brought his head up off his shoulder.

“I think it’s time for bed,” Shiro said quietly, remembering that he’d only gotten an hour of sleep the night before.

Lance stood from the bed and started to leave the room, only for Shiro to grab his arm before he could.

“Uhm. If it’s okay with you... I don’t want to be... Uh, c-could you maybe-“

“Of course I will, Shiro,” Lance smiled, not even needing Shiro to finish his question. “Just let me brush my teeth, okay?”

Shiro nodded and let go of Lance, standing to brush his own teeth. When he finished, he climbed into the left side of the bed. A moment later, Lance came in and turned the light off, shuffling into the bed next to Shiro. They faced each other, not even caring whether it was socially appropriate, and Shiro smiled as his eyes fluttered shut.

Before he fell asleep, he felt a gentle hand brush his bangs away from his face. The hand continued its ministrations until a soft ‘Goodnight, Shiro’ whispered in the quiet surrounding them lulled Shiro into unconsciousness.

 

A few hours later, Shiro was awakened to the sound of soft whimpering. He remembered Lance was laying next to him, and figured it was just his friend talking in his sleep. But as he became more aware, the whimpering got harsher, and it sounded like Lance was in pain.

Shiro leaned over and turned on the lamp near his bedside to look at his friend. When he did, he saw how sweaty and pale Lance was.

“Lance?” he asked.

The brunet didn’t wake up.

“Lance!” he said louder, pushing himself up to shake the boy awake.

He felt his friend’s forehead, and it was hot to the touch, as if his body was a pot of boiling water.

“LANCE!”

“Sh-Shiro...” Lance finally responded, his face still contorted in pain.

“Lance! What’s happening?”

“Shiro...” he breathed. “Help me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> agdjagdsodmsdisndls this chapter was so hard to write tbh i don’t know why but it took me so long to figure out where everything should go to make sense.
> 
> i’m sorry if some seem out of character, i’m just trying to make the story go how i want it to go, and that may lead to some people (keith, i know) being a bit ooc
> 
> i hope you enjoyed lance being a furry, i sure did.
> 
> my friend taycake reminded me of a certain vine that fits well with shiro kicking keith and allura out and lance growling at them:  
> https://youtu.be/VHnZYzhRgXI  
> uh this is canon now so thank you taycake LOL
> 
> as a writer, feedback is our lifeblood, so please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about everything that’s happening. and about what you think is going to happen next!

**Author's Note:**

> If you like this fic, please leave a comment, and maybe consider buying me a [coffee!](http://ko-fi.com/natdashg)


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